Hot Topics:

Boulder County reports solid progress on Flagstaff Road rebuild

By Joe Rubino

Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
07/25/2014 07:57:33 PM MDT

Updated:
07/27/2014 09:51:19 AM MDT

Raul Cerezo watches Jesse Perez, excavator operator, lower a drill bit into the earth to drill for a caisson to help support the new bridge on Flagstaff Road in Boulder on Friday. (Mark Leffingwell/Daily Camera)

It can be a surprisingly delicate process using a massive drill to burrow into the earth in search of sturdy bedrock.

That much was evident Friday when Boulder County transportation contractors working to repair a flood-damaged portion of Flagstaff Road probed the rugged terrain alongside the street seeking a solid anchor for a bridge pillar.

The drill operator repeatedly drove an auger several feet in length into the ground while sitting in an excavator perched on the edge of the crumbled uphill lane of Flagstaff, just a few hundred feet past Gregory Lane. He then slowly brought up the drill bit and swung it back over the interior lane so that workers on the ground could inspect the soil to see if solid rock had been reached.

Crews on Friday were drilling a slot for the fifth of 10 24-inch caissons that will eventually house the support pillars for a 212-foot bridge. That bridge, expected to be completed in November, will make Flagstaff an operable two-lane roadway for the first time since floodwaters washed parts of it down the mountainside in September.

Advertisement

"Things are going really well," Boulder County transportation spokesman Andrew Barth said of the project, which crews launched June 23, requiring closures of Flagstaff Road in both directions for seven hours most weekdays since.

So far, crews have scaled back the rocks along the roadway to give crews more room to work and provide wider clearance for cars traveling through the one-lane portion of the road. They've also poured two caissons and drilled the holes for two more.

Not only is the work moving along at a solid pace, but Barth said people have been cooperative in dealing with the road closures, which have shut down both lanes of Flagstaff between Gregory Canyon Road and Panorama Point between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. every weekday and will continue to do so until the work is done this fall.

"People are learning to adapt," Barth said. "That's the normal around here."

It helps that uniformed Boulder police officers have been enforcing the closure from a roadblock at Sixth Street and Baseline Road while sheriff's deputies enforce it above Panorama Point.

Barth said cyclists and motorists now routinely line up at the bottom of Flagstaff in anticipation of the road's reopening each day, and officials now leave the road open to westbound traffic until that line dies down.

Westminster resident Brendon O'Brien has been one of the cyclists waiting for the road closure to be lifted in the afternoon. The road bike rider said he is fine with the daily closures if it means that one of his favorite riding routes is returned to its pre-flood conditions.

"I'm just really happy that they're doing it," he said. "I'm totally OK with it taking a while. I use that road a lot, and I want to see it done right."

Jason Vogel, a member of the board of directors for the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, said he has heard no complaints from area mountain bike riders about the weekday closures, even though they cut off the only reasonable route between Boulder and the challenging trails in the Walker Ranch area.

"I've heard no negative feedback at all," he said. "I think everyone seems to be generally pretty understanding that the flood caused severe damage to all of our mountain roads, and this stuff has to be taken care of one way or another."

He said the key has been communication about the road closure, as well as the county's efforts to reopen other recreational areas. He mentioned Deer Canyon Road, which county crews reopened about three weeks ago. The road provides riders with access to trails in Heil Valley Ranch.

"They've clearly made tremendous progress in some areas," Vogel said.

Barth said there are a few weekdays coming up during which crews will take a break and open Flagstaff to the public all day to accommodate previously scheduled events. Those dates include Aug. 1 and Aug. 29, he said.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story